Colorado air-quality regulators on Sunday adopted new rules and strengthened existing ones in the hopes of reducing pollution from the booming oil and gas industry.
The tougher rules fall into two groups: those that apply to the metro area and Larimer and Weld counties, and those that apply to the rest of the state. Both rules specifically target “condensate” tanks, which collect liquids and other byproducts produced during drilling and emit smog-forming pollutants.
The statewide rules are the first mandatory emissions restrictions for the Colorado oil and gas industry outside the metro area and require companies to put pollution controls on the biggest polluting tanks.
The metro-area rules toughen existing requirements, which became less effective in achieving emissions reduction goals when the oil and gas industry grew much quicker than state officials anticipated.
“This is a great step forward,” said Jeremy Nichols, the director of Rocky Mountain Clean Air Action. “It’s not where we wanted things. But I think it shows a lot of concern over clean air.”
The metro-area rules are especially important as the Denver region sits dangerously close to violating federal air pollution standards. The issue brought dozens of people to a special meeting of the Colorado Air Quality Control Commission on Sunday.
In 2004, the commission approved a 47.5 percent cut in metro-area condensate tank emissions to meet standards specified in an agreement with the Environmental Protection Agency. But that reduction was based on the estimate that emissions from the tanks in 2007 would average 146 tons a day. Instead, the oil and gas industry has boomed – especially in the gas-rich Wattenberg Field in northern Colorado – and state officials estimate that uncontrolled emissions from the tanks will be about 233 tons a day.
So, after several hours of testimony, the commission voted Sunday to require a 75 percent cut in metro-area condensate tank emissions for 2007. In 2012, that increases to a 78 percent cut.
“This was something that all parties can agree upon,” said Stacey Simms of the American Lung Association of Colorado. “We all know that controlling ozone is a long battle. And this is a step along the way.”
But Ken Wonstolen, senior vice president of the Colorado Oil and Gas Association, said the decision was bittersweet. While Wonstolen said the industry supports reducing emissions, he said he was disappointed the commission approved a tougher standard than the 73 percent metro-area reduction that all parties had agreed to during earlier discussions.
The tougher standard means that companies will have to race to install enough pollution- control units on tanks between now and May, when the regulations would take effect. Already, Wonstolen said, about 1,200 tanks in the metro area have the units.
“That’s a bit frustrating, when you’ve been working for months and months to get something done,” he said.
The regulations must still be approved by the state legislature.
Staff writer Kim McGuire contributed to this report.
Staff writer John Ingold can be reached at 720-929-0898 or jingold@denverpost.com.
